Two-Minute Songs

Buckethead. Buckethead. Buckethead. If you know other short albums that are good, and recent. Let me know!
 
The obvious one for me is Blackstar by Bowie. Just over 41 minutes and every song is awesome. It's such a well made concise album even with a 10 minute title track. Fits the theme too. If this was really written as his farewell message, it makes sense that he would want to keep it to the point. Great album.

I know a lot of the more hardcore Immortal fans weren't into it, but I really enjoyed the debut Abbath album. 48 minutes. It's pretty catchy/accessible for a black metal record but I find every song really enjoyable.

Borknagar - Winter Thrice (49 minutes): Gotta give @Night Prowler a shout out for getting me into this band. Winter Thrice is some of the best folk metal I've ever heard. Really love how the vocalists alternate.

Tame Impala - Currents (50 minutes): Barely makes the cut. Really solid rock album with some electronic shades. Almost every song can very easily get stuck in your head.

Foo Fighters - Sonic Highways (42 minutes): Surprisingly this one actually contains some of the longer Foos tunes, but it feels very concise. Only 8 songs but they all have their own style and identity, as reflected by the recording in different locations concept. I give an album bonus points when it has a purpose when listened to in full. Even more impressive when it can get to that purpose in a short amount of time (also see Blackstar).

Sabaton - Heroes (44 minutes): Does this even need explaining?

Septicflesh - Titan (45 minutes): One of the greatest metal/orchestra combinations I've ever heard. This album is intense and relentless. Any longer and my head could explode.

All from the past 3 years. I tried to stick with rock and metal because the 40-50 minute format is still pretty common in other genres, to the point where it would be a waste of time to name all the great ones.
 
One of the best new albums of the year (and it is neck-and-neck with Opeth's Sorceress as my favorite) is Puberty 2 by Mitski. It clocks in at a mere 31 minutes. And, turning back to the point of the thread (ahem): it features three good songs under 2 minutes long, and only one song longer than 4 minutes -- which is the weakest song on the album, IMO.
 
I meant rock and metal only, so that's fine (of course there are zillions of poppy and instrumental albums; they are way more easier to make in shorter format).

Thanks Mosh! I do not think that Sabaton album is strong, but yeah, tastes differ. I still haven't come round playing that whole Abbath album.

I'm still not very overwhelmed to be honest. The number is relatively low compared to the many (strong) longer albums that were released in the same period. Making longer albums in metal is the thing to do these days, because I think it is difficult to make strong shorter ones. It is difficult to make short songs as well these days. It's difficult to to make good soup with little ingredients. The more we progress in time, the more has been done before. And that is most apparent when songs are shorter. Longer songs give more room for originality, interesting build-ups or unexpected turns.

Here's a nice exception:
 
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Grand Magus - Triumph and Power (2014, 42:09) and Sword Songs (2016 34:43); Murg - Varg & Björn (2015, 37:33; Winterfylleth - The Dark Hereafter (2016, 40:24)...
 
Foro, all the albums (I know still off-topic) that have been mentioned (Mosh cited quite a few); have you listened to most of these? Opinion? Also, rather than excluding Buckethead, why don't you actually name some of his albums for others to listen to?
 
I have not listened to all albums Mosh mentioned.

I have named some Buckethead albums in the Buckethead topic, although maybe not all? I could still add all my favourites I haven't mentioned. I do not wish to exclude him from this topic. I only excluded him from my question on 50- albums because I think that a lot of instrumental music is under 50 minutes. It's less rare to find lots of strong albums in that vein.
 
Ahh, okay. Incidentally, in regard to your previous question, I find most intrumental music through Bandcamp. You can filter your selection to, for example, Rock > Instrumental > Best Selling, or whatever. There's a ton of music on there most of which you can listen to in full and which is peanuts to buy (or even free) if you want to support the artist. That album I cited above is by a Russian band called Artificial Waves. I bought their whole discography (4 albums) for $3.
 
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Forostar said:
They really sounded good. That album had variety! Good tip.
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They're flagged as "Post-rock", for obvious reasons; traditional intrumentation & band set-up, but no virtuosity, no guitar solos, etc. Album is a huge grower for me. Listen to this track; great atmosphere, with some pretty heavy parts; tone & mix is huge. Awesome.

 
I seem to recall that there was a logical reason why old songs tend to be quite short, hence the fade out that seems to be a bit premature. that said, there is no excuse for this classic to fit into the said category nearly 4 times.
 
Albie said:
I seem to recall that there was a logical reason why old songs tend to be quite short,
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Restricted length of play on a standard vinyl single? That no doubt influenced expectations and conventions re song length, including the length of radio play slots.
 
Brigantium said:
Restricted length of play on a standard vinyl single?
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It was something along those lines, yes. I think in the 70s they managed to get a bit more time into a 45.

Some of the younger folk are now thinking "45, what's a 45?"
 
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